"Are we alone in the universe?" Mr. Spock's question lingered in the air as 20 people departed on a ride through a black hole, leaving them in a completely dark and soundless planetarium.

"There is probably nothing," 13-year-old Justin Hile said in reference to what astronomers predict to be at the center of a black hole. "I've never imagined being sucked into a black hole."

Justin, an Eaton Rapids resident, said he enjoyed stepping off planet Earth to take a Leonard Nimoy-narrated ride through space in the Abrams Planetarium. Its featured show, "The Search for Life in the Universe," runs during the weekend.

While there might be nothing at the center of a black hole, the rest of the universe is game for life beyond Earth.

"It's so big," 15-year-old Jodie Hile said. "There's endless possibilities."

During the hourlong show, the voice of Star Trek's Spock tells crew members - planetarium guests sitting amid a glowing starring sky - what astronomers are doing to find life among the stars.

A series of images depicting a story line of space findings and questions fills the night sky, allowing viewers to navigate their way through the final frontier.

While water and carbon compounds would point to possible life forms, it's difficult to explore planets and stars that are light years away.

For that reason, researchers from the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute are trying to communicate with life in space using radio waves traveling at the speed of light - 186,000 miles per second.

But even attempting discoveries this way is like "walking into the Library of Congress blindfolded and coming out with the book you want," Spock says.

Astronomy Professor Jack Baldwin says life beyond Earth is probable, but it's not demonstrated.

"It's a needle in a hay stack sort of thing," he said. "The fact that they didn't find anything doesn't say anything one way or another, but it would be fascinating if they did."

While NASA's space shuttle program has been primarily research-based, allowing astronauts to study how space affects living things from Earth, other vehicles are searching space unmanned. The Cassini spacecraft, which was launched in 1997, is carrying the European Space Agency's Huygens probe. It's due to arrive on one of Saturn's moons, Titan, July 1, 2004.

"It's expected to see oceans made of methane," Baldwin said. "I'm sure it's hoped we will land on land and not an ocean."

Aside from learning about voyages through space, Lansing resident Juanita Trevino said her favorite part of the show was learning about where planets can be seen with the naked eye from Earth.

"I look out my kitchen window and see a red star," Trevino said. "Now I know it's a planet."

At the end of each show there is a sky talk that highlights what currently can be seen in the night sky - from constellations to planets.

At the end of August or early September, Mars will come into a good viewing zone, said Shane Horvatin, education coordinator for Abrams Planetarium.

Horvatin says he hopes future shows will feature Mars.

But for now Spock asks, "Are we alone?"

Horvatin doesn't think so.

"There has be to something out there with 2 billion stars in our galaxy and 2 billion galaxies in our universe," he said.